The new economic scenario increases the importance of the “innovative capacity” of
the agents as crucial competitive instrument in order to attain the differentiating
element required by the competitive process. Innovative capacity refers to the agents’
capability to transform general knowledge into specific one using their stock of
competencies and dynamic assets, including formal and informal –both codified and
tacit- learning.
In this paper we recognize that the economic, social and institutional environment of
firms becomes increasingly important. The new competitive situation and the
uncertainties generated by the economic globalization process intensify the role of
institutional and social agents in strengthening the innovative capacity of firms. This,
in turn, results in the generation of technological, organizational and market
knowledge and in the development of formal and informal mechanisms to facilitate its
diffusion through the productive internal network. In the framework defined by the
new production and market conditions, innovative processes change from an
individual (and often incremental) phenomenon to a collective one where both the
capacity to collaborate and interact and the adequate institutional structure, fostering
innovative activities on the part of economic agents, become crucial.
The main objective of this paper is to present a proxy indicator of the agents’
potentiality to learn, create “competencies”, transform generic knowledge into
specific knowledge and, therefore, innovate. It aims at analyzing the knowledge of
firms, specially, the way they acquire, organize, memorize and transfer information
(technical, organizational, etc.) thus contributing to increase the knowledge base
itself.
For that purpose, this paper analyze the application of such indicator to a sample of
245 firms in Argentina, most of them small and medium sized firms, located in
different areas with heterogeneous incidence of externalities. In that sense, we will try
to determine the importance of the agent’s size and environment to understand the
existing differences in innovative capacities. Finally, the paper will evaluate whether
those firms with larger innovative capacity have had a more dynamic performance in
the market as from the start of the trade openness and structural reforms processes.

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This paper questions the prevailing notions that firms within industrial clusters have privi-leged access to ‘tacit knowledge’ that is unavailable – or available only at high cost – to firms located elsewhere, and that such access provides competitive advantages that help to explain the growth and development of both firms and regions. It outlines a model of cluster dynam-ics emphasizing two mutually interdependent processes: the concentration of specialized and complementary epistemic communities, on the one hand, and entrepreneurship and a high rate of new firm formation on the other.

Agency theory studies the impact of and remedies to asymmetrically distributed
information in principal-agent relations. Yet, it does so in a surprisingly binary
manner: It assumes the principal to be perfectly knowledgeable of some pieces of
information (such as the agent’s risk aversion), while others (such as the agent’s
true effort exerted) are considered to be perfectly private information of the agent.
Agency theory thus makes very asymmetrical assumptions about the knowledge
of principals and agents, largely neglecting the human capacity for interpersonal
sense-making. This chapter explores the implications of instilling agency theory
with a more realistic account of the human capacity to read other people’s desires,
intentions, knowledge, and beliefs—that is, to have a theory of someone else’s
mind.

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This paper uses an adapted version of the linear tracing procedure, suggested by Harsanyi and Selten (1988), in order to discriminate between two types of multiple Nash equilibria. Equilibria of the same type are pay-off equivalent in the analysed multiple-unit unit price auction where two sellers compete in order to serve a fixed demand. The equilibria where the firm with the larger capacity bids the maximum price, serves the residual demand and is undercut by the low capacity firm that sells its total capacity risk dominate the equilibria where the roles are interchanged.

This paper argues that not only Edith Penrose, but also Harold Demsetz should be seen
as a dominant source of inspiration for RBP scholars, that these two crucial influences
hold different and even conflicting views of the economic process, and that they helped
found different research areas and research approaches within the RBP. Based on this
discussion, the paper argues that the conflicting legacies of Penrose and Demsetz
threathen the coherence of the RBP, that a central problem in the RBP is the lack of
understanding of the process of resource-creation which tends to give the perspective a
retrospective character, but that work on technological innovation and change, framed
in the broader theoretical context of Austrian and evolutionary economics, may help
remedy this shortcoming.

A substantial literature has evolved focusing on the ownership structure of international strategic alliances (ISAs). Most of the relevant studies are theoretical in nature and concentrate on the conceptual factors that influence the choice between equity and non-equity structures. A smaller number of studies provide some empirical evidence on the importance of some of the conceptual factors. The theoretical literature highlights the potential influence of relational capital and transaction costs as determinants of ISA structure; however, there is little empirical evidence on the relative importance of these potential determinants. Moreover, there is only limited and indirect evidence bearing upon the impact of host country governance attributes on ISA ownership structure. In this study, we provide statistical evidence on the importance of potential determinants of governance mode choice for a sample of ISAs involving Danish firms. Our study documents how the determinants of governance mode choice vary in importance depending upon the "quality" of the governance infrastructure of the host country.
Key words: Relational Capital, Governance, International Strategic Alliance

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Participation rate on the Greenland labour market: situation of year 2000
A goal is that a large part of the population of normal working age is employed. The participation
rate is one of the statistics used to describe the performance of the economy in this respect. Two
sources are used to arrive at an estimate of the rate both for Greenland in general and for four
regions defined by four so called growth towns: Nuuk, Sisimiut, Ilulissat and Qaqortoq. They are
Statistic Greenland’s publications on employment and on unemployment. There are some
difficulties using the available data: the employment and unemployment surveys refer to periods
whereas the potential workforce is counted at a date. Furthermore persons with yearly income
below an arbitrary limit of 40.000 DKK are sorted out even though they should contribute to the
number of full year employed. The participation rate is found to be much higher in Nuuk than in the
other regions. For Greenland as such the number is in line with figures for Western Europe and
North America. Characteristics of people not in the work force are looked for. To some extent a
connection exists to the number people receiving pension as disabled, people in education, and
those on leave because of childbirth, but the relation is imperfect and great differences are seen
between regions.

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This paper reports the findings of a research project investigating the utilization and
continuous improvement of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Adopting the
aspects of a resource management framework and Critical Success Factor research, an
initial framework is developed. The framework is developed through a survey of ERP
system expert consultants. A number of factors and causalities are identified, including
the positive role of use by top management and the role of corporate culture. Two
factors were found to have a negative impact on utilization. The first is the unreflective
use of ERP system implementation methods, which can ‘kill’ the visions and ideas of
implementing ERP systems, while the second is the vanilla implementation strategy.

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Due to advances of technology including faster and ubiquitously accessible
Internet connection, on-line gaming have grown tremendously in the
last couple of years. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether escapist motives
for playing games are linked to strengthening of weak ties through on-line
gaming. The research investigates Facebook and other on-line games separately.
A surprising result is that while most of the investigated escapist motives are
positively correlated with strengthening of weak ties, the mundane breaking
motive is negatively correlated with strengthening of weak ties.

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Due to advances of technology including faster and ubiquitously accessible
Internet connection, on-line gaming have grown tremendously in the
last couple of years. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether escapist motives
for playing games are linked to strengthening of weak ties through on-line
gaming. The research investigates Facebook and other on-line games separately.
A surprising result is that while most of the investigated escapist motives are
positively correlated with strengthening of weak ties, the mundane breaking
motive is negatively correlated with strengthening of weak ties.

In this essay we will demonstrate that the role of project management in organisational change
processes is a mixture of rational and non-rational features. It is also colourful, difficult, interesting,
and messy.
We have named the paper "An Essay on". An essay means treating a topic freely from different
angles, although not forgetting the sources you used. The implication of this is that we are not able
or willing to make an encompassing study of the literature on project management3. We thus know
that many angles will not be covered. Furthermore we do not intend a make a negative delineation,
indicating what we are not dealing with. We prefer to make a positive delineation, emphasising
what we are going to take up in our essay.
Positively phrased we are inspired by 3 sources that will make the foundation for our different
angles:
1. Decision making theory (Enderud,1976)4. One of the authors has previously with success
applied decision-making theory as an approach for analysing organisation change processes
5. Both authors have followed the same line in analysing organisational changes in
the Danish public sector6. That success has inspired us to re-use the distinction between
rational, political and anarchic processes in this essay 7. Enderud (1976:21-22) excludes
explicitly the role of the actors’ participation in his presentation of decision models. We
find, however this aspect so important that we have decided to include it
2. Buchanan and Boddy´s analysis of the character of change8: The authors characterise the
change project in to dimensions. One pertains to the activities concerned: Are we dealing
with peripheral or core activities of the organisation. The second dimension deals with the
magnitude of the change. Buchanan and Boddy use the scale: incremental - radical9.
Furthermore Buchanan and Boddy makes a useful distinction between "public
performance" (on stage) of rationally considered and logically phased and visibly
participative change and "backstage activity" in the recruitment and maintenance of support
and in seeking and blocking resistance (ibid p.27)
3. We will apply data from our own case studies. We will use a format that we call an
illustration, thereby indicating that we "only" illustrate a point. We do not prove it10. Our
cases are almost all from the public sector or from trade unions. Most of them have been
published elsewhere.

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With a limited budget and resources, governments must decide how to allocate funds across a
variety of factors which benefit society such as education, crime deterrence, and public safety. Each
increase in spending on one area comes with the knowledge that this money cannot be spent on
social problems in another area. As such, externalities and unexpected spillover effects impact the
costs and benefits of public spending to society and may have large and meaningful implications on
how to most effectively allocate resources across a multitude of outcomes. For example, an increase
in education corresponds to an increase in the opportunity cost of engaging in criminal activity,
decreasing the probability an individual commits crime. Likewise, loss of employment decreases the
opportunity cost of engaging in criminal activity, increasing the probability an individual commits
crime. Discrimination towards immigrants can impact their employment prospects which, in turn,
impacts their decision to further pursue education. Identifying how these individual level factors
have an impact on society is key to informing and designing effective public policy.
This Ph.D. thesis, entitled “Essays in Education, Crime, and Job Displacement”, analyzes the
determinants and social implications of these three factors. While independent, each essay within
this thesis examines the impact of factors such as education, in terms of reduced crime, job loss, in
terms of increased crime, and discrimination, in terms of its impact on the educational attainment
of immigrants, on society.

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This thesis consists of three essays investigating financial and real estate markets and identifying
a relationship between them. A 2008 financial crises provides a perfect example of
sizeable interactions between US housing market and equity prices, where a negative shock
to house prices triggered a word-wide recession. Therefore, understanding forces driving
investors behaviour and preferences, which in turn affect asset prices in both equity and
housing market are of great interest.

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This dissertation adresses various issues regarding the functioning of financial markets. It consists of introduction and five independent chapters of which the first four are empirical and the last one is theoretical. The introduction provides a brief background on some of the data used in subsequent chapters and a discussion of the main results of the dissertation